Battle of the hottest touchscreen smartphones Apple may have improved on the already fantastic iPhone 3G with the iPhone 3GS, but the 3GS isn't exactly a massive change. Meanwhile, other manufacturers are hot on the iPhone's heels with some hungry new phones that hope to seize the touchscreen crown. Chief among the contenders for the touchscreen title are the Palm Pre, Nokia N97, HTC Hero, Samsung i8910 HD and Sony Ericsson Satio. We thought it was high time that we greased up this year's hottest touchscreen phones, put them in the ring, closed the cage and let them wrestle it out. This story was originally published on Crave UK. Tags: Smart Phone, Apple iPhone, Apple iPhone 3G, touch screen, High Tech Computer Corp. |
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Devlin says...
It's sad to see two of the six contenders still sporting resistive displays when capacitive displays are obviously the way to go for the full-touch phone. That said, Sony Ericsson really dropped the ball here because even before the Satio's release it's already been handicapped by the archaic Symbian OS it runs and the somewhat sluggish resistive display.
The real contenders here are the HTC Hero, Palm Pre, and Samsung i8910 HD, in that order. None of the three are perfect but they certainly do come close in terms of what they have to offer. It will certainly take more than specifications to topple the iPhone but it wouldn't hurt--especially if you combined the best each of the three had to offer.
-Advanced open-source OS (Android)
-Innovative use of materials (Teflon on the Hero)
-Great optics (5-8 megapixel camera; 720p HD recording would be sweet if available though not necessary)
-Sufficient flash (It should at the very least have an LED)
-Multi-touch capable (As seen on the Pre)
-Able to multitask (Pre)
That being said, I honestly don't know what Google's stance on multitasking with Android but I hope it is eventually supported. It looks like the only one capable of meeting all the above would be an Android device where it comes from HTC, Sony Ericsson or Samsung is up to which of these companies want to gain dominance in the market.
The iPhone was and is still criticized for lacking features a lot of more basic (and older phones) have had for a while. If someone can look ahead an build in desirable features in a phone that is as intuitive as the iPhone then they will certainly have a winner.
Jun 26, 2009 14:15
It's sad to see two of the six contenders still sporting resistive displays when capacitive displays are obviously the way to go for the full-touch phone. That said, Sony Ericsson really dropped the ball here because even before the Satio's release it's already been handicapped by the archaic Symbian OS it runs and the somewhat sluggish resistive display.
The real contenders here are the HTC Hero, Palm Pre, and Samsung i8910 HD, in that order. None of the three are perfect but they certainly do come close in terms of what they have to offer. It will certainly take more than specifications to topple the iPhone but it wouldn't hurt--especially if you combined the best each of the three had to offer.
-Advanced open-source OS (Android)
-Innovative use of materials (Teflon on the Hero)
-Great optics (5-8 megapixel camera; 720p HD recording would be sweet if available though not necessary)
-Sufficient flash (It should at the very least have an LED)
-Multi-touch capable (As seen on the Pre)
-Able to multitask (Pre)
That being said, I honestly don't know what Google's stance on multitasking with Android but I hope it is eventually supported. It looks like the only one capable of meeting all the above would be an Android device where it comes from HTC, Sony Ericsson or Samsung is up to which of these companies want to gain dominance in the market.
The iPhone was and is still criticized for lacking features a lot of more basic (and older phones) have had for a while. If someone can look ahead an build in desirable features in a phone that is as intuitive as the iPhone then they will certainly have a winner.
Jun 26, 2009 14:15
prxraw says...
In all the touch screen smartphones,
Palm Pre has solid web os, sleek design but smitten by the operator support and GSM launch worldwide. Cannot comment more until its launched in India
Nokia N97, it seems nokia has forgotten how to design a sleek touch screen smartphone, its simply a brick compared to other touch screens, with slow processor.
Samsung i8910 hd, this is how a smartphone is designed, with the same os as n97 on board, though i am not a big fan of s60 ui either.
Htc Hero, We are waiting for the launch of Htc "Magic" in India, anytime, and this will determine how good (consumer friendly) the android is, but for htc hero it is the best design by htc and so far best for touch screen smartphones I have seeen.
Sony Ericsson Satio, do they really have a good touch screen phone, other than xperia x1, which is again smitten by windows mobile.
iPhone 3gs, hype, hype hype about hardware, about software, but in the end it functions, thats what matters.
The only touch screen not in the list is BlackBerry Storm 2, supposed to launch by sept or oct. should provide true compitition to iPhone 3gs.
Jun 26, 2009 20:07
In all the touch screen smartphones,
Palm Pre has solid web os, sleek design but smitten by the operator support and GSM launch worldwide. Cannot comment more until its launched in India
Nokia N97, it seems nokia has forgotten how to design a sleek touch screen smartphone, its simply a brick compared to other touch screens, with slow processor.
Samsung i8910 hd, this is how a smartphone is designed, with the same os as n97 on board, though i am not a big fan of s60 ui either.
Htc Hero, We are waiting for the launch of Htc "Magic" in India, anytime, and this will determine how good (consumer friendly) the android is, but for htc hero it is the best design by htc and so far best for touch screen smartphones I have seeen.
Sony Ericsson Satio, do they really have a good touch screen phone, other than xperia x1, which is again smitten by windows mobile.
iPhone 3gs, hype, hype hype about hardware, about software, but in the end it functions, thats what matters.
The only touch screen not in the list is BlackBerry Storm 2, supposed to launch by sept or oct. should provide true compitition to iPhone 3gs.
Jun 26, 2009 20:07
ShiningStar says...
I think Samsung HD phone is probably the weakest, especially with the video issues Ive heard. With no support with applications. It's going to be tough with others.
Jun 26, 2009 21:24
I think Samsung HD phone is probably the weakest, especially with the video issues Ive heard. With no support with applications. It's going to be tough with others.
Jun 26, 2009 21:24
prxraw says...
yeah samsung i8910 is the weakest link as its resolution is not even half of HD and it is already palqued by hardware issues
Jun 27, 2009 01:36
yeah samsung i8910 is the weakest link as its resolution is not even half of HD and it is already palqued by hardware issues
Jun 27, 2009 01:36
Devlin says...
To be fair, none of these phones' displays even come close to supporting HD resolution. In fact, I would go so far as say that to expect that much off a phone is a little too much. Also, imagine how hard reading text would be if these phones had a 1900x1080 display--the text would be tiny!
In other news, Palm's president has stated that Palm is open to licensing their webOS out to other companies. Think of the possibilities of a Palm-developed OS and hardware from a third party that's traditionally made feature-packed devices (think Sony Clié PDAs). If not Sony then HTC. While Palm has not yet opened discussions with third parties they have said it is certainly a possibility in the future.
Jun 27, 2009 15:23
To be fair, none of these phones' displays even come close to supporting HD resolution. In fact, I would go so far as say that to expect that much off a phone is a little too much. Also, imagine how hard reading text would be if these phones had a 1900x1080 display--the text would be tiny!
In other news, Palm's president has stated that Palm is open to licensing their webOS out to other companies. Think of the possibilities of a Palm-developed OS and hardware from a third party that's traditionally made feature-packed devices (think Sony Clié PDAs). If not Sony then HTC. While Palm has not yet opened discussions with third parties they have said it is certainly a possibility in the future.
Jun 27, 2009 15:23
ShiningStar says...
Devlin, it's not too much to ask. If you're going to record in HD, you should at least be able view in it's native format. Watching in lower resolution does downgrade the quality of the video and what's the point then?
I also think 720p would be better since on small screen there isn't much difference between 1080p. The text issue isn't problem on Windows or shouldn't be on a handset.
Jun 29, 2009 18:01
Devlin, it's not too much to ask. If you're going to record in HD, you should at least be able view in it's native format. Watching in lower resolution does downgrade the quality of the video and what's the point then?
I also think 720p would be better since on small screen there isn't much difference between 1080p. The text issue isn't problem on Windows or shouldn't be on a handset.
Jun 29, 2009 18:01
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